private collection

Perrenet family

Dijon (France)

Description

The Perrenets were a French bourgeois family with properties in Marcilly-sur-Tille (Dijon). They amassed their fortune in the 16th century through trade, which allowed them to acquire works of art (Drouot, 1941). Prominent among the family members was Pierre Perrenet (1866-1940), who studied law and became a lawyer. Although he practiced his profession in Dijon and Paris, he never gave up his true passion: research. He was elected a member of the Dijon Academy in 1906 and made contributions in the fields of archaeology, history and literature. He published numerous books, among which Histoire de Bourgogne (1907) stands out. According to Drouot (1941), "Pierre Perrenet a représenté de brillante façon dans notre province ce que nous appellerons l'amateur, en prenant le terme dans son sens le plus noble, nous voulons dire l'érudit non seulement consciencieux, but completely disinterested, who never works and writes nothing neither for professional inspiration nor for success, which only encourages an innate taste for research and the need for contact with the past". Another prominent member of the family was François Perrenet, vicar of the Sacré Coeur church between 1932-1934. The art collection remained in the custody of the Perrenet family, passed down from generation to generation among its members.